Eel Crags and others

Date: 22-Jan-2010

Map: Landranger 89, 90, OL4

Weather: Cloudy and misty, with occasional clear patches

Up to Barrow, Outerside, on to Sail and
up to Eel Crags. Return down the same path to walk up
to Scar Crags and Causey Pike, before returning to
Braithwaite :
10.1 miles as measured on memory map.

With the
UK weather I always expect the worse and hope for the best.
As I drove up the M6 past Shap it was absolutely bucketing
down. But I've learnt through past experience that the
weather on The Howgills and the far eastern fells is not
always indicative of what is to come. Today's jaunt in the
Western Fells was prompted by Dibble of the walking forum,
who lives over at Seascale. We arranged to meet at
Braithwaite and I knew that Dibble had a collie called Lexie
so I should be able to recognise her. Bang on the meet up
time, Dibbs dragged me out of the village parking spot, to
park uphill in a small space at the base of Grisedale Pike -
that would save the locals their car parking spot in
Braithwaite - very thoughtful. This was the first meet up
for Dibble and with beginners luck she bought the weather
with her. We got suited and booted , and donned gaitors just
in case. I left the crampons in the car as I didn't think
we'd need them, and just took my poles instead. I'm still
not using them much, but maybe I should to preserve the
knees a bit more. We re-traced our steps back to Braithwaite
and cut through the sleepy village to the start of a track
through fields.

A misty start on our way to Barrow

looking back to Braithwaite

clear over Catbells

on our way up Barrow ....Lexi waits patiently

a hill of many summits - most of them false

Up through the farmyard Lexi was not
bothered by the sheep and pretty much ignored them.
Initially it was misty low down, clinging to the hillside
and smothering the higher fells around, so I didn't really
know what to expect - but there were patches of blue sky
appearing occassionally. We soon got on to walk up to
Barrow, the first Wainwright of the day. It was a gentle
ascent, a small hill with lots of false summits and when
it's misty it never seems as bad ascending when you can't
see where you are going. I tried to get a good picture of
Lexi posing but every time I bent down for a picture she
would come trotting up to check if I had anything to offer.
To the south of us we had a good view over to Catbells and
Derwent water, but ahead the mist was swirling over Barrow,
with the higher fells still covered. I still thought that we
were in for it later on as the mist ebbed and flowed
allowing a glimpse of fell here and obscuring many when it
wanted to. It wasn't too damp and thankfully no wind chill,
which made it feel almost tropical at 5deg. After topping
out on Barrow the next step along was Outerside - we should
have gone on a direct route from Barrow but couldn't pick
out the path in the mist so ended up skirting around the
contours. I checked the GPS and we cut up through the
heather to the main path and much easier going. We were soon
up onto Outerside and from here the next objective came into
view - the col between Sail to the right and Causey Pike to
the left.

Outerside to the right, Causey Pike is on the left

What a lovely dog

Across a snow patch and up to Sail on the right

Looking back don to Outerside, Coledale is down to the left

the path up to Sail

looking back down to our route on the left side. Causey Pike up to the right

But we had to drop down across a boggy patch
before cutting up the steeper slopes ahead. We could see
that the path was covered in a couple of heavy patches of
icy snow, firm but I could just get a good boot into it to
kick steps. We sat down in the snow to admire the
views back down to the start, and this was turning out OK -
good company and the weather wasn't so bad after all. We
gazed down on old mine workings from the 1860's, and they
didn't look that long out of use - quite tidy in fact
from our viewpoint. This was Force Crag mine at the head of
the Coledale Valley, mined from the 1884's to the 90's.
There are a lot of interesting minerals that came out of
there - the site is now an SSSI (site of special scientific
interest). It produced mainly Galena and Barytes, but also
had an exotic suite of minerals with great names such as
Lautenthalite and serpierite. There's also a bit of silver
in them there hills - there are some good specimens still to
be had in picking over the old tailings from the mine.

on top of Sail and looking ahead up to Eel Crags

swirling clouds over Sail from the top at Eel Crags

Wandope on the left and Grasmoor over to the right

dramatic views over to Ard Crags

the cairn on Scar Crags giving me the finger..

We
started off again passing by a 'Fix the Fells' sign poking
it's head above the snow, and up on the was left to Causey
Pike or right for Sail? - As we both felt good it was right
for Sail. It was still misty, with swirly cloud hugging the
tops and billowing down the surrounding valleys. It gave
some dramatic scale to the steep sided fells, with a glimpse
of light ahead and it was still dry. It was a good well
trodden path up to Sail summit, and as we approached the sun
came out for a moment to say hello. We were both
delighted and it lifted the spirits - not that they needed
lifting. It looked decidedly promising for later on. Our
second choice was to head back down to Causey Pike or carry
on higher? So up we went still feeling fine. The path ahead
though was a little icy so I knew we had to tread warily on
our way up to Eel Crags. Up onto the summit and the fourth Wainwright of the day the clouds melted away and we had some
lunch at the trig point while admiring the views. There was
an impressive swirl of mist streaming over the crest of the
ridge that we had walked up, we couldn't see too far but it
was nice to get some views. Lexi the collie was very well
behaved and waited patiently for some snap, I'll have to get
some dog biscuits next time. I looked over to the next ridge
which looked impossibly steep down the valley sides, and I
thought the same thing the next week when looking back to
this walk, but they are wide ridges and you don't get the
sensation of falling off.

another misty view view steeply down to Rigg Beck

Ard Crags and beyond that Robinson

Causey Pike ahead

the Derwent Fells running East to West

looking down on Barrow, the mist clearing

looking back up to Causey Pike - it was steep

After a spot of lunch we returned
down the same path to Sail and then down to the col before
ascending once more to Scar Crags and Causey Pike. Up
towards Scar Crags the weather was improving, and we could
see the rest of the Derwent Fells intermittently through the
cloud. To the south of us a series of ridges run west to
east, and they always tend to funnel the cloud and mist down
the valleys from the watershed of Dalehead, Hindscarth and
Robinson - all big hills. Grasmoor to the north does it's
own thing. Up on Scar Crags Lexi waited by a cairn
that was giving me the finger, or it looked like it anyway.
I got some very atmospheric shots of clouds as we continued
on our way to Causey Pike, the final Wainwright of the day.
As we got to the summit the clouds ahead were breaking up
and we could see more and more of Skiddaw. We met a
lone woman walker up on the top of Causey Pike, and boy what
a deep voice she had. It turned out she was Dibbles old next
door neighbour from Kendal - small world as ever. She was a
transport planner for Kendal Council, a nightmare job
for the last couple of months with the snow and floods.

the bridge at Stoneycroft Stair

Skiddaw slowly appearing ahead

lovely red braken

skeleton trees backlit with Eel Crags now far away

and zoomed in for effect

The
mist dropped down once more on the steep descent from Causey
Pike, but the path was good and we soon dropped below the claggy stuff. Swinside came into view as did the top of
Skiddaw, it looked to be a great end to the day. The route
took us down to the bridge over Stoneycroft Gill with a view
back up to Outerside, and we followed the road around for a
little stretch. We met a beekeeper and I asked him how the
bees had got through the cold snap. He told us he took out a
couple of honeycombs and replaced with roofing insulation.
That was proceeded by an interesting discourse on the fate
of our native bees v the Asian imports. After 30mins he
showed no signs of stopping, so I whipped out the camera and
took a couple of shots which he really didn't want to be in.
We managed to say our goodbyes and nipped off smartish before
he could continue his diatribe. We left the road behind a
copse of lovely Scots Pine - proper trees, and gently
ascended in the shadow of the hills. Up ahead was a luminous
landscape lit by the late evening sun. It looked very
warming against the backdrop of grey skies, with Skiddaw
positively glowing. A short walk on and we were in
Braithwaite at the only shop. They served tea but woudn't
let Lexi in so we sat outside and sipped from polystyrene
cups - very warming. We looked at the remnants of the
flood sandbags, a sad reminder of recent events. A small
trudge up to the car park and Lexi nipped sharpish into the
back seat. I said my farewells and thanked Dibble for her
company, and got back to Manchester early for once - only
because the pub was shut. Another grand day out in the Lake
District.